The National Weather Service issued severe thunderstorm warnings before dawn Monday for a stretch of the Missouri-Kansas border, with radar-indicated storms capable of 60 mph wind gusts and penny-size hail moving through the Kansas City metro area. Two warnings were active early Monday, issued by the NWS office in Pleasant Hill, Missouri.
The warnings covered northeastern Miami County and southeastern Johnson County in east-central Kansas, along with northwestern Cass County and southwestern Jackson County in west-central Missouri. At 5:12 a.m. CDT, forecasters tracked a severe thunderstorm near Spring Hill, Kansas, moving east at 10 mph; a follow-up warning at 5:23 a.m. tracked another cell nearby. Both warnings were set to expire at 6:15 a.m. CDT.
The National Weather Service warned the storms could damage roofs, siding and trees as they pushed through communities including Overland Park, Olathe, Leawood, Gardner, Spring Hill, Stanley, Stilwell and Clare. The warning also flagged Interstate 35 in Kansas, near mile marker 208, as within the storms’ path. Forecasters told residents in the warned areas to move to an interior room on the lowest floor of a building for protection.
The activity is consistent with a broader pattern of unstable air fueling severe convection across Missouri on Monday, with the Kansas City metro sitting at the leading edge of the disturbance as it tracked eastward. Wind gusts near 60 mph are strong enough to snap tree limbs and down power lines, while hail the size of a penny — roughly three-quarters of an inch — can dent vehicles and damage siding, though it falls short of the larger stones that cause the most severe property damage.
Severe thunderstorm warnings differ from watches in that they indicate a storm has already been detected — by radar or trained spotters — rather than conditions merely favorable for one to form. The National Weather Service continues to monitor the region as additional cells develop along the boundary separating warm, moist air from cooler air pushing in from the northwest, a setup that has repeatedly triggered fast-moving, radar-confirmed storms across the corridor early Monday.
Residents in the affected Missouri and Kansas counties were urged to stay alert to local weather alerts through the morning commute, as additional warnings remained possible as the line of storms continued its eastward push across the state line.